Final Fantasy VII: 25 Years after the Fact
Triad of Truths
(Chapter 7)
Aeris sat biting her lip as her father continued to yell at her for how stupid she had been. The words were just going in one ear and out the other as her mind dwelled on how close she had been to getting the Masamune back. Janica and Lucas were seated around the conference table at HQ as well. General Rahn and Yuffie stood along the wall letting Cloud scold them.
"You could have been killed! Even worse, you pulled your brothers and your friends into this half-baked scheme of yours... The Ancients only know what happened to poor Ellie! And you still haven't shown the least bit of guilt for your actions!" Cloud raged.
"Save it, Strife. She's not listening," General Rahn piped up.
Cloud pounded the table in front of Aeris. He put his face in front of hers. "Are you listening to me?" he demanded.
Aeris looked at him with a sarcastic look on her face. "Dad, the way I see it? Either you let us help or we'll just come up with more half-baked schemes and run away again," she said. Her eyes were set on her father's.
"Not if I have you locked up and guarded," he retorted.
"Sir, with all due respect, locks are child's play for me. We were able to sneak past the guards before, we can do it again. I stand behind Aeris fully now," Lucas said. He wasn't so sure why he was willing to help her now, but he knew he couldn't just sit back and simply watch. He was going to follow Aeris and help her no matter what the cost, no matter how stupid the ideas were.
"As do I," Janica added. "I can't name how many Voices have spoken to me since yesterday, telling me I have to help her, that I have to follow her. I'm not certain about Tomas and Deus, but according to the Voices... They say that Aeris, Lucas, and I have to keep fighting."
"And if the rest of you end up like Ellie?" Cloud asked, trying to talk some reason into them.
"How many times does Janica have to tell you? The Ancients say that she safely made it back to her own world. You just don't understand. I have to get the Masamune back at all costs!" Aeris yelled. She felt like crying but knew her father would even ignore his daughter's tears at this point.
"Even if it means your life?" Cloud asked. His eyes held hers again.
She stared back, determination burning in her eyes. Then she nodded once. "Of course. If it means my life for the sake of the world..."
Cloud looked away, disgusted. Hadn't he fought Sephiroth all those years ago so that no one would have to give their life for the world again? So why was it that his children were reliving his life? Images of Aeris Gainsborough flooded his mind. He threw his hands up in the air, then placed them on his hips.
General Rahn stepped forward. "Janica, this is no game. This is very, very real."
"This is what the Ancients have asked me to do. Disobeying them at this point would mean that my life as a priestess has no meaning. If I'm going to die doing it, my soul rests in their hands," Janica said.
"As a Wutanese warrior, I'm sworn to help causes that affect Wutai, if it is within my power. If I can help Aeris in this, then it helps Wutai in the long run," Lucas said before Yuffie could question him.
Cloud sunk into a chair, covering his face in frustration. "You kids don't understand!" he groaned.
"Yeah, we do, Dad. We understand that yeah, this is dangerous. Yeah, our lives are at stake. Yeah, the sake of the Planet itself is at risk. What you don't seem to understand is that I need to get my Masamune back from Sephiroth. If I'm not strong enough as I am, and if my friends aren't either, then we're going to pull together and find a way. We're going to do this and you can't stop us. If you wanted to help us, fine. But hindering us is only gonna make this harder on us. So please, either help us or get out of our way," Aeris said, her voice backing up the determination in her eyes.
"So basically you're saying that anything I say to you is useless," Cloud said.
"Unless you want to help us, yes. We're going after Sephiroth," she replied.
"And if it counts, Voices have been telling me that you guys can help us. They want us doing this. But they say there is some great help you can give us. They're being vague, yet I get the understanding that this great help lies hidden in Wutai," Janica said. "I really don't know what that means, but maybe you guys know."
Cloud and Yuffie instantly exchanged glances, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"They can't mean…," Yuffie started and trailed off before she could admit to something that wasn't supposed to exist.
Cloud blinked and thought for a moment. "Maybe they do. What chance do we stand against that fiend without it?"
"Could they even handle it? We were practically raised on it, but do they even know what it is?" Rahn asked.
Cloud nodded. "Aeris used to play with some as a child. I'm sure Lucas and Janica as well would know of it," he said.
"Played with what?" Aeris asked.
"To speak of it as if it were a mere toy…" Rahn pondered.
Cloud looked to Aeris. "Let me have some time to get used to this situation. I don't want to agree to it yet it seems I have to. Once I'm settled, you'll be helping us. Got it?"
"Nope. We work together. I can tell you where he is, yet you know how to fight him better than I do. We're a team or nothing."
Cloud sighed. "Fine. A team. We'll share what we know and what we can do if you will do the same."
Aeris nodded. She felt as if she were signing her death wish, and adding her father's name below hers.
"Okay then. Rahn, can you arrange a flight for us to Wutai ASAP?" Yuffie asked.
Rahn nodded his head and left the room.
"So what's going on?" Lucas asked.
"We'll tell you when we get there," Cloud said.
*****
Tomas was lying on the bed in the room he had been temporarily given at HQ. He was curled up in a fetal position but his tears had stopped for the meantime. The hole on his heart still ached. It had barely been a day since they had met up with Sephiroth, yet he missed Ellie too much already. He was painfully aware of the fact that he had indeed fallen in love with her. It made him sick to know that she had shown him something he never believed in and he never got the chance to tell her. Janica had told him that the Ancients said she was safe in her own world, but the fact that he'd never see her again was what really bothered him.
He closed his eyes, gently chewing on a thumb, trying not to let the memories wash over him, trying to keep his tears at bay. People had tried to console him, but the only person in existence that he felt could calm him down was Ellie herself. He ignored the knock at the door as her face drifted through his mind again. He could so clearly recall the way her smile eased his soul, how she felt when he hugged her, the way her lips felt pressed to his… The door to the room opened as he began to lose his battle of control once more.
"Tomas?" a voice asked timidly.
Tomas inwardly groaned pitifully. "Damn, anyone but that brat, please!" he begged in his mind. "Just go away. Leave me be," he said, choking up. He curled into a tighter ball. Ellie's image grew stronger and he began to sob, not caring anymore if his brother saw him in this broken state.
Deus had only come to Tomas' room because he was bored out of his mind and didn't have anyone else to bother. He had been wanting to check on him, but his mother had told him to let Tomas be. He never expected to find Tomas in this shape. He watched with his mouth slightly agape as Tomas' hand tried to cover his eyes, his body shaking, and actually whimpering as he cried. Deus stood in total shock. It had been so long since he had seen his brother cry. He realized that more and more he had been seeing Tomas as a man rather than a boy, yet to see him in this state… A large lump formed in Deus' throat. He had to do something. The idea in his head seemed strange, like one that Tomas would reject. But he had to try.
Deus lay down on the bed beside his brother and put his arms around him. It was the least he could do. He was certain Tomas would kick him or punch him soon, but he held on.
Tomas was too weak to fight because the comfort of someone holding him at this moment, someone trying to understand this pain felt too kind of a notion for him to push away. He buried his face into Deus' shoulder and his hands gripped Deus' shirt.
The brothers lay there in each other's arms as Tomas tried to contain himself. After a short while, Tomas' sobs quieted, his tears began to run dry, and he was able to talk. "I miss her so damn much," he said, his voice unsteady.
Deus was suddenly confused and uncomfortable with the situation. Tomas didn't tell him things like that. He tried his best and sighed. "I miss her too."
Tomas sat up at that, looking almost angry. "You can't possibly know what the word miss means," he snapped. He began scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.
"The hell I don't! You're not the only one who's lost a loved one!" Deus said, sitting up as well.
"Right. And who have you lost again? I seem to forget," Tomas said.
Deus got quiet and looked at Tomas for a moment. "I don't have any friends at school. Dad fears me. Mom doesn't like me much. You absolutely abhor me. The only person that ever gave a real shit about me is always away at college. Aeris." He waited to get yelled at.
But Tomas shook his head. "Aeris can always come home. She can come back. I'll never see Ellie again. It's not the same," he said quietly. His eyes filled up again and he looked away.
"How can you be so sure Ellie can't come back?" Deus asked.
Tomas merely blinked, the tears dripping onto the blankets. His brother's words filled his heart with doubt rather than the false hope it was meant to. After a few moments, he spoke up. "And I don't abhor you, either."
"Ha. You think that I don't know that those little bangs on my wall at night are you throwing knives at it, probably wishing they'd go through and kill me?"
Tomas wiped his eyes again and shook his head. "You aggravate me sometimes. Most brothers I assume take that kind of rage out physically, but I know you'd beat me to a pulp. When throwing knives at your wall I know that they won't hurt you and it gets out my frustration. I never meant to give you the impression I wanted you dead." He couldn't believe his brother felt that way. "You are too paranoid."
Deus fell quiet and began to play with a loose string on his sock. After a few moments he looked back up at Tomas. "Did you see him? I mean, he looked just like me but a lot older. No wonder everyone fears me. I'm his spitting image. Just how much will the Jenova cells affect me in the future?" he finally whispered.
Tomas looked at his brother once more. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?" Deus asked.
"Know what? Why you look like Sephiroth?"
"Yeah. Because mom and I were gonna die before I was born. Something about the only way to save us was to put the world's last remaining Jenova cells. It's why I look so much like him. But now I'm just worried about what those things are gonna do to me as I get older," Deus said.
Tomas' face held a blank stare. "That's absurd, Deus."
"Nuh-uh. It's true!" the younger brother countered.
"It can't be."
"And why not?" Deus' arms folded.
Tomas rolled his eyes. "Where do I start? Okay, let me try to make this simple. Cells like that can't mess with your genetic makeup so late in a pregnancy, for one. And two, there's nothing wrong with mom and dad."
"Well that's 'cause dad was cured of his infusion while he was in the Life Stream," Deus noted.
"Psh. You really believe that crap? I always thought you favored the guy becaused dad had the Jenova Cells as well. After all, Jenova was bascially that creep's mother."
"Basically? No way. Jenova is his mother."
"No. A woman named Lucrecia was. In fact, she was infused with Jenova Cells, too. A very high amount, too, much higher than dad was."
Deus' eyes widened. "So how much was I infused with?" His mind went into a panic. He was not Jenova's son as well!
Tomas thought for a minute and he heard his brother getting impatient. "None," he finally said. "Either none at all, or the reasoning that they gave mom the Cells has nothing to do with them fearing the fact that she might lose you. Damn, now you've got me buying into your conspiracy schemes!"
Deus was the one shaking now, trusting his brother's genius mind. After a long moment, he looked up at Tomas. "Then what the hell am I?"
"I don't know but we're going to find out. Let's go ask mom," Tomas said, grabbing Deus by the arm and dragging him off.
*****
Their arrival in Wutai caused a lot of commotion. Foreigners, with Master Kisaragi, in a World Military airship was something that the Wutanese didn't see everyday. Yuffie didn't have the time to calm her people, though. Yet Ryouji wasn't the one to be ignored so quickly.
"What's this?" he demanded as she began to lead her small troop up the mountain of Dao Chi.
"Please. Not now. Just head back to the city and assure everyone that there's nothing to worry about," she replied.
Ryougi sighed, seeing the look in her eyes. He'd be able to get it out of her later, and the citizens did need to be calmed. "What should I tell them? It's not as if the entire Planet suddenly becoming militant hasn't been broadcast on the news here. People are wondering when Wutai will be seized, wondering if what Reeve promised us will be compromised and so forth. What the hell should I tell them, Yuf?"
Yuffie sighed. "Tell them that I'm working closely with World Leaders in the situation at hand and that if all goes well, Wutai won't be harmed at all."
"Harmed!? What the hell do you mean? Are we in danger here?" he asked.
Aeris blinked. For the first time, she was able to see what an outsider looking in must thing and just how many people her quest involved. If she failed, then it was most likely the Planet would be completely destroyed. Then she wondered how hard it was for Yuffie not to say anything. She watched as Yuffie stopped and turned to him.
(Author's Notes: This is all I wrote of the fic before I pronounced it dead. I'm really sorry.)
